Here's the essential elements of Program Planning:
- The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) are integrated to show who is accountable for what deliverables.
- Schedule and Cost are integrated for the same periods of performance. It's not "cost and schedule," it's "schedule and cost." Make every effort to derive costs from the schedule. Either a resource loaded schedule, or a schedule that drives cost through a spread sheet.
- There is a Master Schedule showing when the deliverables will be delivered, what work is needed to produce the deliverables, in what order they will be produce, and who is doing the producing. Build this schedule through the deliverables, not through the functions. Try as hard as you can to NOT have a schedule showing Requirements, Design, Develop, Test, Deploy. But a schedule that shows those functions for each deliverable. Same is true for the WBS. Product focused WBS's are the only way to build a credible description of the project, no matter what anyone says, even those claiming to be authors of PM Bodies of Knowledge. It's simply not allowed in the federal government PM space. So why do it anywhere else.
- Work is performed in an authorized sequence. No skipping ahead. It ruins the fun to skip ahead.
- Physical evidence of progress is the only measure of progress. This physical evidence needs to be defined ahead so you can recognize it when it comes. No hand waving. No soft assessment of "also most done." You're either done or not done.
- Changes to ANYTHING only happen after they are authorized. No making it up as you go. No cowboys, no "making it better," without approval to make it better.
